Card-catalogue



G. N. JUDSGN. GARD CATALOGUE.

(Model.)

No. 464,877. Patented Deo. 8, 1891.

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UNrrnn STATES PATENT union.

CHARLES N. JUDSON, OF BROOKLYN, NFAV YORK.

VCAFiD-CATALOGU E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 464,87*?, dated December 8, 1891.

Application filed October 3, 1891. Serial No. 407,599. (Model.)

4 clear, andexaot description of the invention,

which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the saine.

The object of my invention is to facilitate the examination of the several cards of which the card-catalogue is composed.

In the drawings, Figure l represents a cardcatalogue case or drawer with the cards B and C in position therein, D representing a twopronged rod extending through the drawer at E and E from front to rear and through holes F and F made in the cards for confining the cards in their proper places in the case. This rod may be single-pronged, if preferred. Fig. 2 represents two of said cards out, positioned, and inscribed after the manner of my invention, in which the first or preceding card B has its left-hand edge indented at y and its right-hand edge full, and the second or next succeeding card C has its right-hand edge indented, as at oo', and its left-hand edge indented, as at x', and this indented part concealed behind the unindented part of the preceding card, a portion of its inscribed face appearing above the indentation in the preceding card.

In consulting card-catalogues it is necessary to separate one card from another by insei-ting the finger or thumb between the cards, pulling the iirst card away from the pack in order to consult the next, and as the cards are frequently packed in the case quite tightly and stand close to each other it is often diilicult to get them apart, causing great annoyance and irritation when haste is desired. The object of my invention is to so form the cards as to enable this to be done readily and at the same time they shall. be so inscribed that they can beconsulted in the easiest manner possible. IVith that in view I form the seyeral cards with an indentation on their edge, as shown at y and y in the drawings, so that this edge shall be upon two planes, the upper plane :c and 0: forming the uppermost edge on the cards and preferably somewhat less than half its entire length, the lower plane or indentation y' and y being somewhat lower than the upper plane and preferably occupy ing somewhat more than one-half the length of the cards, the two planes on each card being connected by a beveled edge. Then so indented, I place the cards in the case in pairs, so that the indented portion of the several cards shall be alternately on the right and left hand sides of the compartment and behind the elevated portion of the next preceding card.

Upon the faces of the several cards, and preferably between the higher and the lower planes on each, I place the title of the book or its authors name in case it be a book) or such other catch-word as is ordinarily used to facilitate the consultation of catalogues in such a way that such catch-word inscription upon each succeeding card can be seen above the lower plane of the neXt preceding card, and vto effect which the prolonged indentation in the preceding card is especially adapted. Upon the remaining face of such card and below the lower plane may be inscribed such other matters as are usually placed upon cardcatalogues or the titles of the several books by the same author, in case it be a librarycatalogue. These cards being thus arranged in the card-case and the finger or thumb of one hand being used to press the cards other than the irst one back upon themselves, the upper part of the first card, being entirely loose, will have a tendency to spring out and permit the finger or thumb of the other hand to be inserted between the iirst two cards, and so to bring forward the preceding one of the two, or the first card in the series, and so continue until all the cards in the case have been consulted.

When it is desired to insert new cards in the case, the rod D is pulled out, thus releasing the cards, and new cards in pairs, alternately right and left indented, as before described, are inserted in the desired place and so arranged that the indented portion in each new card shall not immediately follow the indented portion in the preceding card. The rod D is then inserted to hold the case. This will result in an occasional blank card ap pearing in the series, which can be utilized when the occasion demands for the insertion ot' new titles, authors, or the like. The rod D is not absolutely necessary in my invention, but it is preferably used to keep the cards from falling on their faces in the case, be# sides tending to aid in 'separating the cards in the use of my invention and also to keep the cards in order in the case and to prevent their being surreptitiously withdrawn by illmeaning people.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isp l. A card-catalogue composed of a series of cards indented upon their edges and so arranged that the unindented edges of any two cards shall never immediately follow one another in the card-case, but shall always have the indented edge of a third Vcard between them.

2. A card-catalogue composed of a series of cards B and C, having their edges indented7 whereby upon each card is formed a lower plane y and y and an upper plane or projection x and said cards having said in` `CHARLES N. JUDSON.

Witnesses: v

JOHN FlrzGEnALD, A. M. HAYES. 

